DOCSLIB.ORG

The Fengyun-3C Radio Occultation Sounder GNOS: a Review of the Mission and Its Early Results and Science Applications

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Fengyun-3C Radio Occultation Sounder GNOS: a Review of the Mission and Its Early Results and Science Applications Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 5797–5811, 2018 https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5797-2018 © Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. The FengYun-3C radio occultation sounder GNOS: a review of the mission and its early results and science applications Yueqiang Sun1,2,3, Weihua Bai1,2,3, Congliang Liu1,2, Yan Liu4, Qifei Du1,2,3, Xianyi Wang1,2, Guanglin Yang5, Mi Liao5, Zhongdong Yang5, Xiaoxin Zhang5, Xiangguang Meng1,2, Danyang Zhao1,2, Junming Xia1,2, Yuerong Cai1,2, and Gottfried Kirchengast6,2,1 1Beijing Key Laboratory of Space Environment Exploration, National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSSC/CAS), Beijing, China 2Joint Laboratory on Occultations for Atmosphere and Climate (JLOAC) of NSSC/CAS, Beijing, China, and University of Graz, Graz, Austria 3School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China 4National Meteorological Center, Chinese Meteorological Administration, Beijing, China 5National Satellite Meteorological Center, Chinese Meteorological Administration, Beijing, China 6Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change (WEGC) and Institute for Geophysics, Astrophysics, and Meteorology/Institute of Physics, University of Graz, Graz, Austria Correspondence: Congliang Liu ([email protected]) and Weihua Bai ([email protected]) Received: 25 October 2017 – Discussion started: 15 January 2018 Revised: 25 July 2018 – Accepted: 7 August 2018 – Published: 23 October 2018 Abstract. The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) uation and scientific applications establishes confidence that Occultation Sounder (GNOS) is one of the new-generation the GNOS data from the series of FY-3 satellites will provide payloads on board the Chinese FengYun 3 (FY-3) series of important contributions to NWP, GCM, and SWR scientific operational meteorological satellites for sounding the Earth’s communities. neutral atmosphere and ionosphere. FY-3C GNOS, on board the FY-3 series C satellite launched in September 2013, was designed to acquire setting and rising radio occultation (RO) data by using GNSS signals from both the Chinese BeiDou 1 Introduction Navigation Satellite System (BDS) and the US Global Posi- tioning System (GPS). So far, the GNOS measurements and The global navigation satellite system (GNSS) radio oc- atmospheric and ionospheric data products have been vali- cultation (RO) technique (Melbourne et al., 1994; Ware dated and evaluated and then been used for atmosphere- and et al., 1996) for sounding the Earth’s neutral atmosphere ionosphere-related scientific applications. and ionosphere was demonstrated by the proof-of-concept This paper reviews the FY-3C GNOS instrument, RO data Global Positioning System/Meteorology (GPS/MET) mis- processing, data quality evaluation, and preliminary research sion launched in 1995 (Ware et al., 1996; Kursinski et al., applications according to the state-of-the-art status of the FY- 1996; Kuo et al., 1998) as well as the following GNSS RO 3C GNOS mission and related publications. The reviewed missions: the Challenging Mini-satellite Payload (CHAMP; data validation and application results demonstrate that the Wickert et al., 2001, 2002); the Constellation Observing Sys- FY-3C GNOS mission can provide accurate and precise at- tem for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC; mospheric and ionospheric GNSS (i.e., GPS and BDS) RO Anthes et al., 2000, 2008; Schreiner et al., 2007), the Gravity profiles for numerical weather prediction (NWP), global cli- Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE; Beyerle et al., mate monitoring (GCM), and space weather research (SWR). 2005; Wickert et al., 2005); and the Meteorological Opera- The performance of the FY-3C GNOS product quality eval- tional (MetOp) satellites (Edwards and Pawlak, 2000; Lun- tama et al., 2008). These missions have demonstrated the Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 5798 Y. Sun et al.: The FengYun-3C radio occultation sounder GNOS Figure 1. Timeline of FY-3 series satellites. The FY-3 series satel- lites are the Chinese second-generation polar-orbiting meteoro- logical satellites including AM (morning), PM (afternoon), and EM (evening) orbits, and rainfall types of satellites, which have been/will be launched in three batches (source: Sun et al., 2017). unique properties of the GNSS RO technique – such as high vertical resolution, high accuracy, all-weather capability, and Figure 2. Design (functional block diagram) of GNOS instrument global coverage (Ware et al., 1996; Gorbunov et al., 1996; (source: Du et al., 2016). Rocken et al., 1997; Leroy, 1997; Steiner et al., 1999) – and long-term stability and consistency of different RO mission nals (Wang et al., 2015; Bai et al., 2018). The FY-3C satel- observations (Foelsche et al., 2009, 2011). Therefore, GNSS lite is the first BDS- and GPS-compatible RO sounder with a RO data products (i.e., bending angle, refractivity, tempera- state-of-the-art RO receiver – GNOS (Bai et al., 2012, 2014a; ture, pressure, water vapor, and ionospheric electron density Wang et al., 2015; Du et al., 2016). The following FY-3 se- profiles) have been widely used for numerical weather pre- ries of operational meteorological satellites (Fig. 1) will con- diction (NWP; e.g., Healy and Eyre, 2000; Kuo et al., 2000; tinue to carry GNOS as a major payload. The next one of Healy and Thepaut, 2006; Aparicio and Deblonde, 2008; these satellites is FY-3D, which was launched on 15 Novem- Cucurull and Derber, 2008; Poli et al., 2008; Huang et al., ber 2017 (Liao et al., 2016b; Yang et al., 2017; Sun et al., 2010; Le Marshall et al., 2010; Harnisch et al., 2013), global 2017). climate monitoring (GCM; e.g., Steiner et al., 2001, 2009, The FY-3C GNOS instrument consists of three antennas; 2011, 2013; Schmidt et al., 2005, 2008, 2010; Loescher and three radio frequency units (RFUs); and an electronic unit Kirchengast, 2008; Ho et al., 2009, 2012; Foelsche et al., (EU), which uses high-dynamic, high-sensitivity signal ac- 2011a; Lackner et al., 2011), and space weather research quisition and tracking techniques (Fig. 2). The three RFUs (SWR; Anthes, 2011; Anthes et al., 2008; Arras et al., 2008; are installed close to their corresponding antennas by us- Brahmanandam et al., 2012; Pi et al., 1997; Wickert, 2004; ing sharp cavity filters, to reduce the loss of the cable be- Yue et al., 2015). tween antennas and RFUs. The EU is the major component The development of GNSSs such as China’s BeiDou Nav- of GNOS, which accomplishes the GNSS remote-sensing igation Satellite System (BDS), Russia’s GLObal NAviga- signals’ acquisition and tracking as well as the real-time po- tion Satellite System (GLONASS), and the European Galileo sitioning and carrier phase observations (Wang et al., 2015). system has significantly enhanced the availability and capac- In FY-3C GNOS design, the different features of BDS and ity of the GPS-like satellites, which will make GNSS RO GPS signals have been taken into account, and it can observe even more attractive in the future (Bai et al., 2018). These both the neutral atmosphere and ionosphere by using both new GNSS satellites, together with planned low Earth or- BDS and GPS signals. bit (LEO) missions, will offer many more RO observations As shown in Fig. 2, the FY-3C GNOS instrument involves in the future (Wang et al., 2015; Cai et al., 2017). One of a positioning antenna, a rising occultation antenna, and a set- these LEO missions is China’s GNSS Occultation Sounder ting occultation antenna as part of its physical structure. In (GNOS) on board the FengYun 3 series C (FY-3C) satel- terms of electrical structure, the FY-3C GNOS involves five lite, which was successfully launched on 23 September 2013 antennas because each occultation antenna has an ionosphere (Wang et al., 2013, 2014; Bai et al., 2014b, 2016; Liao et al., occultation antenna and an atmosphere occultation antenna 2015, 2016a, b; Wang et al., 2016; Du et al., 2016). (Bai et al., 2014a, b). The FY-3C GNOS mission was designed and developed by the National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSSC/CAS), to sound the Earth’s neutral atmo- sphere and ionosphere by using both the BDS and GPS sig- Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 5797–5811, 2018 www.atmos-meas-tech.net/11/5797/2018/ Y. Sun et al.: The FengYun-3C radio occultation sounder GNOS 5799 The positioning antenna is a wide-beam, low-gain antenna the atmospheric delay (Ao et al., 2009) is also calculated on pointing toward zenith, which can track six BDS and eight board the GNOS. The baseband signal is then sampled at a GPS satellites simultaneously. Its measurements are used rate of 100 Hz. For the COSMIC and MetOp missions, the for real-time navigation, positioning, and the LEO satellites’ sampling rate of open-loop tracing is 50 Hz (Sokolovskiy, precise orbit determination (POD) in post-processing. 2001; Sokolovskiy et al., 2007, 2009) and 1000 Hz (von En- The front-view (along the satellite velocity direction) oc- geln et al., 2009), respectively. The performance of the COS- cultation antenna and back-view (satellite anti-velocity di- MIC mission proves that a 50 Hz open-loop sampling rate rection) occultation antenna are used for rising and setting is sufficient to monitor the troposphere (Sokolovskiy, 2001; occultation event tracking, respectively. The FY-3C GNOS Sokolovskiy et al., 2007, 2009), while MetOp uses 1000 Hz can track four BDS and six GPS occultation events simulta- to do a detailed spectrum analysis of the lower troposphere. neously. The atmosphere occultation antennas have a pattern Indeed, the higher the sampling rate, the more detailed the that is wide in azimuth and narrow in elevation. A gain of atmospheric information that can be obtained. Compliant approximately 10 dBi is reached over the coverage range of with the FY-3C satellite downlink capability, FY-3C GNOS about ± 35◦ in azimuth and about ±7:5◦ in elevation (Bai et adopts a 100 Hz open-loop sampling rate, which is proven al., 2014a; Du et al., 2016).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • China Science and Technology Newsletter No. 14
    CHINA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER Department of International Cooperation No.14 Ministry of Science and Technology(MOST), P.R.China July 25 2014 Special Issue: China’s Space Development Achievements and Prospects of China’s Space Development The 64th IAC Held in Beijing Shenzhou 10 Misson Successfully Accomplished Chang’e 3 Achieved Soft Landing on the Moon GF-1 Satellite - The First Satellite of CHEOS Achievements and Prospects of China’s Space Development Mr. Xu Dazhe, Chairman of China Aerospace Science in 1970 marked the start of China entering into space and and Technology Corporation (CASC) delivered a speech exploring the universe. Due to substantial governmental at the 64th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) on support and promotion, China’s space industry developed September 23, 2013, sharing experiences gained in the quite fast and has made world-known achievements. development of China’s space industry with international As the leader in China’s space sector, CASC is colleagues. assigned to develop, manufacture and test launch OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY vehicles, manned spaceships, various satellites and CHINA’S SPACE INDUSTRY other spacecraft for major national space programs such as China’s Manned Space Program, China’s Lunar China’s space programs have had 57 years of Exploration Program, BeiDou Navigation Satellite development since the 1950s. The successful launch of System, and China’s High-Resolution Earth Observation China’s first artificial satellite Dongfanghong 1 (DFH-1) Monthly-Editorial Board:Building A8 West, Liulinguan Nanli, Haidian District, Beijing 100036, China Contact: Prof.Zhang Ning E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] http://www.caistc.com System.
    [Show full text]
  • Enhanced Orbit Determination for Beidou Satellites with Fengyun-3C Onboard GNSS Data
    GPS Solut DOI 10.1007/s10291-017-0604-y ORIGINAL ARTICLE Enhanced orbit determination for BeiDou satellites with FengYun-3C onboard GNSS data 1,2 1 1 3 3 Qile Zhao • Chen Wang • Jing Guo • Guanglin Yang • Mi Liao • 1 1,2 Hongyang Ma • Jingnan Liu Received: 3 September 2016 / Accepted: 27 January 2017 Ó The Author(s) 2017. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract A key limitation for precise orbit determination (Root Mean Square) of overlapping orbit differences of BeiDou satellites, particularly for satellites in geosta- (OODs) is 2.3 cm for GPS-only solution. The 3D RMS of tionary orbit (GEO), is the relative weak geometry of orbit differences between BeiDou-only and GPS-only ground stations. Fortunately, data from a low earth orbiting solutions is 15.8 cm. Also, precise orbits and clocks for satellite with an onboard GNSS receiver can improve the BeiDou satellites were determined based on 97 global geometry of GNSS orbit determination compared to using (termed GN) or 15 regional (termed RN) ground stations. only ground data. The Chinese FengYun-3C (FY3C) Furthermore, also using FY3C onboard BeiDou data, two satellite carries the GNSS Occultation Sounder equipment additional sets of BeiDou orbit and clock products are with both dual-frequency GPS (L1 and L2) and BeiDou determined with the data from global (termed GW) or (B1 and B2) tracking capacity. The satellite-induced vari- regional (termed RW) stations. In general, the OODs ations in pseudoranges have been estimated from multipath decrease for BeiDou satellites, particularly for GEO observables using an elevation-dependent piece-wise linear satellites, when the FY3C onboard BeiDou data are added.
    [Show full text]
  • Comparison Between GPS Radio Occultation and Radiosonde Sounding Data
    Comparison Between GPS Radio Occultation and Radiosonde Sounding Data Dione Rossiter Academic Affiliation, Fall 2003: Senior University of California, Berkeley SOARS® Summer 2003 Science Research Mentors: Christian Rocken, Bill Kuo, and Bill Schreiner Writing and Communications Mentor: David Gochis Community Mentor: Annette Lampert Peer Mentor: Pauline Datulayta ABSTRACT Global Positioning System (GPS) Radio Occultation (RO) is a new technique for obtaining profiles of atmospheric properties, specifically: refractivity, temperature, pressure, water vapor pressure in the neutral atmosphere, and electron density in the ionosphere. The data received from GPS RO contribute significant amounts of information to a range of fields including meteorology, climate, ionospheric research, geodesy, and gravity. Low-Earth orbiting satellites, equipped with a GPS receiver, track GPS radio signals as they set or rise behind the Earth. Since GPS signals are refracted (delayed and bent) by the Earth's atmosphere, these data are used to infer information about atmospheric refractivity. Before the GPS RO data are used for research and operations, it is essential to assess their accuracy. Therefore, this research provided quantitative estimates of the accuracy of GPS RO when compared with measurements of known accuracy. Profile statistics (mean, standard deviation, standard error) were computed as a function of altitude to quantify the errors. Comparing RO data with nearby (300km; 2hr) radiosonde data yielded small mean error for all of the statistical plots generated, affirming that the RO technique is accurate for measuring atmospheric properties. Comparison of RO data with sounding data from different radiosonde systems showed that the RO technique was of high enough accuracy to differentiate differences in performance of various types of radiosonde systems.
    [Show full text]
  • Spire's Cubesat Constellation of GNSS, AIS, and ADS-B Sensors
    Seizing Opportunity: Spire’s CubeSat Constellation of GNSS, AIS, and ADS-B Sensors Dallas Masters, Director of GNSS, Spire Global, Inc. Stanford PNT Symposium, 2018-11-08 WHO & WHAT IS SPIRE? We’re a new, innovative satellite & data services company that you might not have heard of… We’re what you get when you mix agile development with nanosatellites... We’re the transformation of a single , crowd-sourced nanosatellite into one of the largest constellations of satellites in the world... Stanford PNT Symposium, 2018-11-08 OUTLINE 1. Overview of Spire 2. Spire satellites and PNT payloads & products a. AIS ship tracking b. GNSS-based remote sensing measurements: radio occultation (RO), ionosphere electron density, bistatic radar (reflections) c. ADS-B aircraft tracking (early results) 3. Spire’s lofty long-term goals Stanford PNT Symposium, 2018-11-08 AN OVERVIEW OF SPIRE Stanford PNT Symposium, 2018-11-08 SPIRE TODAY • 150 people across five offices (a distributed start-up) - San Francisco, Boulder, Glasgow, Luxembourg, and Singapore • 60+ LEO 3U CubeSats (10x10x30 cm) in orbit with passive sensing payloads, 30+ global ground stations - 16 launch campaigns completed with seven different launch providers - Ground station network owned and operated in-house for highest level of security and resilience • Observing each point on Earth 100 times per day, everyday - Complete global coverage, including the polar regions • Deploying new applications within 6-12 month timeframes • World’s largest ship tracking constellation • World’s largest weather
    [Show full text]
  • The Fengyun-3C Radio Occultation Sounder GNOS: a Review of the Mission and Its Early Results and Science Applications
    Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2017-385 Manuscript under review for journal Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discussion started: 15 January 2018 c Author(s) 2018. CC BY 4.0 License. The FengYun-3C radio occultation sounder GNOS: a review of the mission and its early results and science applications Yueqiang Sun1,2,3, Weihua Bai1,2,3, Congliang Liu1,2, Yan Liu4, Qifei Du1,2,3, Xianyi Wang1,2, Guanglin Yang5, Mi Liao5, Zhongdong Yang5, Xiaoxin Zhang5, 1,2 1,2 1,2 1,2 5 Xiangguang Meng , Danyang Zhao , Junming Xia , Yuerong Cai , and Gottfried Kirchengast6,2,1 [1] National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSSC, CAS) and Beijing Key Laboratory of Space Environment Exploration, Beijing, China [2] Joint Laboratory on Occultations for Atmosphere and Climate (JLOAC) of NSSC, CAS, 10 Beijing, China, and University of Graz, Graz, Austria [3] School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China [4] National Meteorological Center, Chinese Meteorological Administration, Beijing, China [5] National Satellite Meteorological Center, Chinese Meteorological Administration, Beijing, 15 China [6] Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change (WEGC) and Institute for Geophysics, Astrophysics, and Meteorology/Institute of Physics, University of Graz, Graz, Austria Correspondence to: Congliang Liu (Email:[email protected]); Wehuai Bai (Email: [email protected]) 20 1 Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2017-385 Manuscript under review for journal Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discussion started: 15 January 2018 c Author(s) 2018. CC BY 4.0 License. Abstract The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) occultation sounder (GNOS) is one of the new generation payloads onboard the Chinese FengYun 3 (FY-3) series of operational meteorological satellites for sounding the Earth’s neutral atmosphere and ionosphere.
    [Show full text]
  • An Observing System Simulation Experiment with a Constellation of Radio Occultation Satellites
    DECEMBER 2018 C U C U R U L L E T A L . 4247 An Observing System Simulation Experiment with a Constellation of Radio Occultation Satellites L. CUCURULL AND R. ATLAS NOAA/Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Miami, Florida R. LI AND M. J. MUELLER Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, and NOAA/OAR/ESRL/Global Systems Division, Boulder, Colorado R. N. HOFFMAN Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies, University of Miami, and NOAA/Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Miami, Florida (Manuscript received 9 March 2018, in final form 17 August 2018) ABSTRACT Experiments with a global observing system simulation experiment (OSSE) system based on the recent 7-km-resolution NASA nature run (G5NR) were conducted to determine the potential value of proposed Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) constellations in current operational numerical weather prediction systems. The RO observations were simulated with the geographic sampling expected from the original planned Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate-2 (COSMIC-2) system, with six equatorial (total of ;6000 soundings per day) and six polar (total of ;6000 soundings per day) receiver satellites. The experiments also accounted for the expected improved vertical coverage provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory RO receivers on board COSMIC-2. Except that RO observations were simulated and assimilated as refractivities, the 2015 version of the NCEP’s operational data assimilation system was used to run the OSSEs. The OSSEs quantified the impact of RO observations on global weather analyses and forecasts and the impact of adding explicit errors to the simulation of perfect RO profiles.
    [Show full text]
  • Application of Fengyun 3-C GNSS Occulation Sounder for Assessing Global Ionospheric Response to Magnetic Storm Event” by Weihua Bai Et Al
    Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., doi:10.5194/amt-2016-291-AC1, 2017 AMTD © Author(s) 2017. CC-BY 3.0 License. Interactive comment Interactive comment on “Application of Fengyun 3-C GNSS occulation sounder for assessing global ionospheric response to magnetic storm event” by Weihua Bai et al. Weihua Bai et al. [email protected] Received and published: 3 January 2017 Dear Editor and Referee #1, Thank you for your comments concerning our manuscript entitled “Application of Fengyun 3-C GNSS occulation sounder for assessing global ionospheric response to magnetic storm event” (Manuscript Number: doi:10.5194/amt-2016-291-RC1). Those comments are all valuable and very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well Printer-friendly version as the important guiding significance to our researches. We have studied comments carefully and have made correction which we hope meet with approval. The responds Discussion paper to the comments are as flowing: C1 Referee #1: AMTD General comments: 1, Figure 4 compares NmF2 measurements from the GNOS GPS occultation and Fig- ure 5 shows those produced by GNOS BDS occultation. The comparison between Interactive these two figures is the only thing I find in this paper that could be called a “new find- comment ing.” Response: We would like to explain our purposes and meanings in this paper: (1) It’s a first demonstration for the application of the FY3-C GNSS occulation sounder (GNOS) for assessing global ionospheric response to magnetic storm events. These results coincide with previous studies (e. g. Habarulema et al. 2014, 2016and refer- ences therein), which just right proves the reliability of FY3-C GNOS radio occultation measurements for analyzing statistical and event-specific physical characteristics of the ionosphere.
    [Show full text]
  • Radio Occultations Using Earth Satellites: a Wave Theory Treatment DEEP SPACE COMMUNICATIONS and NAVIGATION SERIES
    Radio Occultations Using Earth Satellites: A Wave Theory Treatment DEEP SPACE COMMUNICATIONS AND NAVIGATION SERIES Issued by the Deep Space Communications and Navigation Systems Center of Excellence Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Joseph H. Yuen, Editor-in-Chief Previously Published Monographs in this Series 1. Radiometric Tracking Techniques for Deep-Space Navigation C. L. Thornton and J. S. Border 2. Formulation for Observed and Computed Values of Deep Space Network Data Types for Navigation Theodore D. Moyer 3. Bandwidth-Efficient Digital Modulation with Application to Deep-Space Communications Marvin K. Simon 4. Large Antennas of the Deep Space Network William A. Imbriale 5. Antenna Arraying techniques in the Deep Space Network David H. Rogstad, Alexander Mileant, and Timothy T. Pham Radio Occultations Using Earth Satellites: A Wave Theory Treatment William G. Melbourne Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology MONOGRAPH 6 DEEP SPACE COMMUNICATIONS AND NAVIGATION SERIES Radio Occultations Using Earth Satellites: A Wave Theory Treatment April 2004 The research described in this publication was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply its endorsement by the United States Government or the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California
    [Show full text]
  • The Annual Compendium of Commercial Space Transportation: 2017
    Federal Aviation Administration The Annual Compendium of Commercial Space Transportation: 2017 January 2017 Annual Compendium of Commercial Space Transportation: 2017 i Contents About the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation The Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA AST) licenses and regulates U.S. commercial space launch and reentry activity, as well as the operation of non-federal launch and reentry sites, as authorized by Executive Order 12465 and Title 51 United States Code, Subtitle V, Chapter 509 (formerly the Commercial Space Launch Act). FAA AST’s mission is to ensure public health and safety and the safety of property while protecting the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States during commercial launch and reentry operations. In addition, FAA AST is directed to encourage, facilitate, and promote commercial space launches and reentries. Additional information concerning commercial space transportation can be found on FAA AST’s website: http://www.faa.gov/go/ast Cover art: Phil Smith, The Tauri Group (2017) Publication produced for FAA AST by The Tauri Group under contract. NOTICE Use of trade names or names of manufacturers in this document does not constitute an official endorsement of such products or manufacturers, either expressed or implied, by the Federal Aviation Administration. ii Annual Compendium of Commercial Space Transportation: 2017 GENERAL CONTENTS Executive Summary 1 Introduction 5 Launch Vehicles 9 Launch and Reentry Sites 21 Payloads 35 2016 Launch Events 39 2017 Annual Commercial Space Transportation Forecast 45 Space Transportation Law and Policy 83 Appendices 89 Orbital Launch Vehicle Fact Sheets 100 iii Contents DETAILED CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .
    [Show full text]
  • An Introduction to GPS Radio Occultation and Its Use in NWP
    An introduction to GPS radio occultation and its use in NWP John Eyre Met Office, UK GRAS SAF Workshop on “Applications of GPS radio occultation measurements“; © Crown copyright 2007 ECMWF; 16-18 June 2008 An introduction to GPS radio occultation and its use in NWP • Radio occultation (RO) – introduction • Variational data assimilation – introduction • Assimilation options for RO data • Some issues for this Workshop © Crown copyright 2007 GPS – the source data The Global Positioning System (GPS) • multi-purpose - applications in positioning, navigation, surveying, … • nominal GPS network = 24 satellites • near polar orbit - height ~20000 km • allows high-accuracy positioning of low Earth orbiters (LEOs) • source of refracted radio signals for radio occultation © Crown copyright 2007 Geometry of a radio occultation measurement Tangent point Bending angle α LEO a GPS Impact parameter © Crown copyright 2007 An occultation sounded region receiver transmitter Earth atmosphere A sounding from 60 km to the surface takes ~60s © Crown copyright 2007 Atmospheric refraction: the physics Refractivity gradients caused by gradients in: • density (pressure and temperature) • water vapour • electron density • (liquid water) 2 2 N = κ1 p / T + κ2 e / T + κ3 ne / f + κ4 W “dry” “moist” ionosphere “scattering” N = refractivity = (n -1) x 106 n = refractive index p = pressure T = temperature e = water vapour pressure ne = electron density f = frequency W = liquid water density © Crown copyright 2007 From bending angle to density Impact parameter Bending angle LEO GPS L1: 1.575 GHz / 19.0 cm L2: 1.227 GHz / 24.4 cm 1(')∞ α a pe ln(na ( ))= da ' 6 ∫a 22 Nn=−×(1)10 =κκ12 + π aa' − T T 2 Refractive index Refractivity © Crown copyright 2007 Features of RO measurements • globally distributed • temperature in stratosphere and upper troposphere, and ..
    [Show full text]
  • Espinsights the Global Space Activity Monitor
    ESPInsights The Global Space Activity Monitor Issue 6 April-June 2020 CONTENTS FOCUS ..................................................................................................................... 6 The Crew Dragon mission to the ISS and the Commercial Crew Program ..................................... 6 SPACE POLICY AND PROGRAMMES .................................................................................... 7 EUROPE ................................................................................................................. 7 COVID-19 and the European space sector ....................................................................... 7 Space technologies for European defence ...................................................................... 7 ESA Earth Observation Missions ................................................................................... 8 Thales Alenia Space among HLS competitors ................................................................... 8 Advancements for the European Service Module ............................................................... 9 Airbus for the Martian Sample Fetch Rover ..................................................................... 9 New appointments in ESA, GSA and Eurospace ................................................................ 10 Italy introduces Platino, regions launch Mirror Copernicus .................................................. 10 DLR new research observatory ..................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Update on Beidou Navigation Satellite System and PNT System
    Update on BeiDou Navigation Satellite System and PNT System LU Xiaochun 30th, October, 2019 Stanford 2019 PNT Symposium National Time Service Center Chinese Academy of Sciences 01 BDS System Construction 02 Application and Cooperation CONTENT 03 Comprehensive PNT System From Compass to Global Satellite Navigation Systems （GNSS）, Positioning, Navigation and Timing Technology (PNT) has made brilliant achievements. It has promoted the progress and development of human society as well the explorations of the world. BDS System01 Construction 1. GNSS System Construction Global Navigation Satellite Systems Global Systems Regional Systems USA: Russia: China: EU: Japan: India: GLONASS BDS Galileo GPS + QZSS NavIC 1. GNSS System Construction There are nearly 100 satellites in orbit of other major systems in the world The current quantity of satellites in orbit of each system GPS 31 GLONASS 24 Galileo 22 QZSS 4 NavIC 7 Total 88 PS. Beidou Satellites and in-orbit test and maintenance satellites are not included. 2. BDS Strategy and Principle Three-step strategy of development： Regional to Global，Active to Passive Principle：Independence, Openness Compatibility, Gradualness 1st step：BDS-1, 1994～2000，Regional active 3rd step：BDS-3，2013～2020 ，Global passive l Limited capacity l Precision Improved availability and reliability enhancement l Timing, Positioning, Short message communication l RNSS, SMS, SBAS, SAR, PPP 第一步 第二步 第三步 2nd step：BDS-2, 2004～2012, Regional passive l Unlimited capacity 7 l RNSS, SMS, Wide Area Differential Service 2. BDS-2 System Consruction (1) The system runs continuously and stably Operational without service interruption meet service requirements for public and international users B1I Horizontal Position Accuracy Service interruption time (hours) Continuous service rate 0 100% 3.
    [Show full text]